Combat!
"A Birthday Wish"
Part 1
Kirby: "Hey Caje!"
Caje: "What is it now Kirby?"
Kirby: "Well, today is your birthday, right?"
Caje: "Yeah, so what? I have one every year around this time."
Kirby: "Very funny Cajun. But today, you are how old…eighty-nine?"
Caje: "Well, yeah, I guess I am. But to all of the fans and all of the writers I guess I am still only, what, thirty-six, non?"
Kirby: "Yeah I guess that makes me only thirty-one huh. I like the way those people look at things, don't you?
Caje: "Yeah, at times. But I hate to think that some people might be thinking we have not changed. Time has marched on and I have gotten older, not only in the numbers, but also in the looks. I am an old man now and I don't think all realize that. What do you think Kirby?"
Kirby: "Yeah, I think you might be right with that. But who cares? As long as we are still in their hearts and in their thoughts and prayers it really doesn't matter how old we are or what we look like. To them…we will always be just plain Caje and Kirby."
Caje: "Kirby, when did you start thinking so deep?"
Kirby "Hell, was that thinking deep? Honestly, I think I read it somewhere on one of those fan fiction sites…"
Caje: "Should of known. Oh and Kirby?"
Kirby: "Yeah Caje."
Caje: "Thanks for the Birthday Wishes."
Kirby: "Don't mention it pal."
"Kirby's Goodbye"
Part 2
A year has come and gone since Caje's 89th Birthday. Kirby was sitting outside. Right where he and Caje had been sitting just last year. Only Kirby was sitting there alone this time.
He had a lost kind of look in his eyes. The look one has when something or someone you thought would always be there for you, is not there anymore.
He was staring off into space, muttering to himself.
Kirby: "What the hell Caje? I thought you were a fighter? You were always the one pushing me to keep going. Remember when you and the Sarge stuck with me and insisted I don't quit. Remember? When I was badly wounded in the leg? 'Come on Kirby.' "You kept saying.' 'Don't give up. We'll get you to the aide station. Don't give up Kirby.' "Ya said. Then you go and give up. What the hell?"
Kirby jumped up and started to pace. Back and forth, back and forth, getting madder and madder. Kicking up the dirt as he stomped around.
To anyone watching this public display of emotion, Kirby looked like a child whose parent had just scolded him for some unknown act of mischief.
But to someone else who was watching...no. To him, Kirby looked exactly like what he was. He looked like a man whose best friend had died.
Caje watched helplessly as his best friends heart was breaking. But there was nothing he could do.
Caje: "Kirby, I did fight. I tried, but I couldn't stay. Please believe me Kirby. I wanted to, but I just couldn't."
A tear slowly rolled down the Cajun's cheek.
A hand suddenly appeared on Caje's shoulder. Caje didn't turn around, he just said,
Caje: "Sarge, I need to tell him. He needs to know that I did fight. He needs to know that I wanted to stay, but it was my time. I only hung on for as long as I did because I knew he was coming. He had to say goodbye. I couldn't leave without him saying goodbye. Sarge, you knew. By the time Kirby got there, I was already gone. I just needed to hear Kirby's "goodbye".
Sarge: "Caje, ya gotta stop beating yourself up over this. Kirby will be all right. Besides, you know it's rare to be able to get a message to the other side. It's something very few are able to do."
Caje: "But it can be done."
Sarge: "Well, ya, but like I said, it's rare."
Caje: "Sarge, I've got to try. You were there, in the hospital with me. You saw him. Sarge that was a year ago and look at him. He's still angry at me for leaving."
Caje: "Do you remember what he said to me just before I left?"
Sarge: "Yeah Caje, I remember."
Caje, not really listing to Sergeant Saunders, or really talking to anyone besides himself, continued to talk.
Caje: "He sat there, holding on to my hand. He wouldn't stop talking. He refused to say it. Hum…I guess he figured if he didn't say the actual words, I couldn't leave. So he said everything else there was to say."
Sergeant Saunders looked on helplessly as Caje continued.
Caje: "He told me we were pals. He said we were a team. How could we be a team if I left? He kept on telling me to fight. To not give up. To stay. After all, he said again, WE WERE A TEAM!."
Caje stopped for a moment, then in a quieter voice he said,
Caje: "Sarge, he wouldn't shut-up."
Saunders started to laugh. Caje gave him a halfhearted, sheepish grin. Saunders walked over to him and put his hand back on the Cajun's shoulder and said,
Sarge: "Then he said, 'You are loved'."
Caje couldn't stop the tears now. They were streaming down his cheeks. But he needed to talk. To get this out.
He continued.
Caje: "Yeah, Sarge, he said 'You, you are loved. Don't ya know that Caje? You're loved, Caje. I… I love you Caje. You know that, don't ya?'"
Caje: "Like I said before Sarge, at that stage, I was for all intent, gone. But I heard him! Loud and clear…'You are loved Caje' I guess I must of smiled when he said that, because he then said 'Caje, you heard me, didn't you? You're smiling! I know you heard me!'
Caje: "He then took my hand again and said, 'Caje, these are the hardest and the most painful words I have ever said to anyone…You are loved Caje…Goodbye.'
Caje turned away from Saunders to try and compose himself. After a few moments he turned back.
Caje: "Don't you see Sarge? I have to. I have to let him know I'm OK. And I'm still with him. That I will never leave. And that someday, we, the whole squad, all of us, someday we will be together again."
Caje: "And I have to let him know Sarge, I have to let him know that I heard him and that he too is loved."
Caje was looking Saunders straight in the eye while saying this. He was determined to get a message to Kirby.
Sergeant Saunders did understand. After all, he was where Caje was at one point in his own journey. So yes, he understood Caje's need to ease Kirby's suffering.
He understood it. He just wasn't sure if Caje would be able to.
Sergeant Saunders shook his head. He had to find a way to stop the pain both his friends were feeling. As he was mulling the problem over in his head, a wave of light washed over him. He looked up and smiled.
Saunders: "Thank You"
Saunders looked toward Caje and saw the puzzled look on the Cajun's face.
The Sarge walked toward Caje and slapped him on the back.
Saunders: "Let's go see if you can help Kirby, shall we?"
The smile on Caje's face was breathtaking. His eyes shown with gratitude.
Kirby was back sitting on the pile of sandbags, head in hands, crying.
Softly Caje walked up to him and very gently, put his hand on his shoulder.
Kirby froze.
Kirby: "What? What was that? I felt something...no, I felt someone, touch me."
Kirby shook his head.
Kirby: "No, I'm imagining it. Damn it Caje, see, see what you leaving has done to me. Now I'm crazy. I'm sitting here crying and imaging things. Damn it buddy, this is all your fault."
Kirby continued shouting up to the sky. He was screaming at God, telling him how unfair Caje had been for up and dying on him. The nerve.
Caje looked toward Saunders, hoping to get some help. Or at least a bit of advice. All the sergeant could say was,
Saunders: "Caje, if you don't shut him up, I swear I will find me a tommy gun and shut him up myself. One of the best things about being here is that I don't have to listen to him chatter endlessly anymore."
The Sarge was right, Kirby did like the sound of his own voice. But to Caje, that voice right now was music. Still, Caje had to find some way to get his message to Kirby, when it hit him.
As Kirby continued his assault on Caje, for having the audacity to up and die on him, a small scrap of paper, floating down from the sky, caught his attention. Kirby sat there and watched, as it slowly and very softly, landed on the ground in front of him.
Kirby: "What the hell is that?"
Kirby reached over to pick of the paper. It was blank. It was nothing he thought. Just someone's trash, catching in the wind.
As he stared at it, words began to appear.
Kirby: "What the hell?"
Kirby smiled…He looked up into the heavens and said,
Kirby: "You too buddy, you too."
Well that is the end of my story. I hope you will forgive me for writing about this, but truthfully, it was something I had to do.
Not as a "closer" no. But as a reminder, that even though we may not agree with what takes place in and around our lives, we must accept them. And we must all, at some time in our lives, "Take the point" and carry on.
Oh, uh,Je suis désolé (I'm sorry)...I almost forgot. Would you like to know what was written on that scrap of paper?
vous êtes aimés
(you are loved)
La Fin
Rédigé avec amour
Par
Éclaireur
(The End)
Written with Love
by
"Scout"